← SCP Cost Explorer Read on SCP Wiki ↗
SCP-378 Thaumiel ~ medium confidence
SCP-378
Expected annual
$5.2M
One-time setup
$6.9M
Annual recurring
$5.1M
Personnel
26
Initial capital expenditures are estimated at $6,885,000 driven by construction of a subterranean terrarium, environmental controls, emergency response vehicles, and lab conversion; annual operating costs are roughly $5,086,000 driven by staff wages, cover/ legal maintenance, reserve life-support, and high-assurance utilities.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $6.9M
Facilities $3.1M
[#1, #13] Excavation and terrarium structural shell (incl. retaining walls, waterproofing, interior landscaping) plus quarantine/holding-suite buildout.
Equipment $2.1M
[#2, #3, #4, #5, #14, #15, #18, #21, #22, #23, #24] Environmental control install, decontamination chamber, monitoring/sensors, initial tracking devices, initial PPE stock, autoclave/incinerator install, emergency-response vehicle/equipment, backup generator/UPS, secure comms hardware, containment manipulators, and one-time replacement/prep costs.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $1.6M
[#16, #17, #26] Diagnostic assay R&D/validation, feedstock cultivation setup (lichen/insect culture startup), and one-time BSL-4/thaumaturgic lab conversion costs (if required).
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $5.1M/yr
Staff Wages $2.1M/yr
[#6, #7, #8, #9, #10] Salaries and benefits for containment technicians (4–6 FTEs modeled as 5), security force (8–12 modeled as 10), medical staff (1 MD + 2–3 nurses/techs modeled as 4), research staff (2–5 modeled as 4), and embedded agents/liaisons (3).
Cover Story And Legal $945K/yr
[#11, #19, #20, #25, #27] Covert identity upkeep costs for SCP-378-2/-3, ongoing legal/PR/liaison/quiet-settlement budgets, ethical/compliance administration, behavioral-management surveillance/payroll obfuscation, and an annual contingency for small public/operational incidents.
Reserve Life Support $500K/yr
[#12] Long-term ICU-level life-support, nursing and consumables for maintaining brain-dead/comatose reserve personnel (modeled as maintaining one reserve at mid-range cost).
High Risk Lab Access $500K/yr
[#26] Recurring contracted access or operating costs for BSL-4/thaumaturgic-equivalent facilities if high-risk invasive research is required.
Supplies And Consumables $310K/yr
[#3, #14, #15, #16, #17, #30] Decon consumables, PPE replacement & disposables, hazardous waste disposal contracts, per-test diagnostic reagents, feedstock operational costs, and miscellaneous consumables/contingency stock.
Logistics And Transport $220K/yr
[#10, #18] Embedded-agent travel/local logistics and emergency response unit readiness, vehicle maintenance, and transport-related readiness costs.
Power And Utilities $155K/yr
[#21] Continuous electricity, backup fuel/UPS maintenance, and utility consumption for environmental controls, life-support and data systems.
Facilities Maintenance $115K/yr
[#2, #3, #13, #23] Recurring HVAC/environmental system maintenance, decontamination chamber maintenance, quarantine suite operations, and containment-equipment upkeep.
Research And Monitoring $101K/yr
[#4, #5, #29] Continuous audio/video/data storage and monitoring costs, tracker replacement/comm fees, and red-team/audit exercise budgets allocated to monitoring/research functions.
Training And Drills $60K/yr
[#28] Regular training (decon, screening, humane termination protocols) and scheduled drills.
Secure Communications $30K/yr
[#22] Encrypted communications, classified-network access fees, and off-site/air-gapped archive maintenance.
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $5.1M/yr
90.0% probability / year
Normal operating year with no major incidents; routine containment, research, cover maintenance and reserve care continue.
routine_operations scheduled_research no_breach_or_public_exposure
🚨 Minor Incident $5.6M/yr
8.0% probability / year +$500K vs baseline
Localized containment incident requiring emergency response, limited cleanup, a replacement/prep for an affected host, and modest legal/PR action.
localized_breach single-host_loss emergency_response_activation
🚨 Major Breach $7.6M/yr
1.5% probability / year +$2.5M vs baseline
Significant containment failure or cascade of host infections requiring sustained emergency operations, multiple replacements, major cleanup and substantial cover operations.
multi-host_infection extended_public_incident large_scale_replacement_operations
🚨 Political Exposure $15.1M/yr
0.5% probability / year +$10.0M vs baseline
Public/political exposure involving local authorities or mass-casualty visibility requiring major hush-money, relocations, facility upgrades or legal battles.
high_profile_exposure legal_litigation mass_relocation_or_compensation
👥 Personnel 26 total
Role Count Notes
Containment Technician / Facility Operator 5 [#6] 24/7 rotating coverage for terrarium operations and maintenance (4–6 FTEs recommended; modeled as 5).
Security Officer / MTF Agent 10 [#7] Armed security for facility perimeter and on-site response (8–12 positions modeled as 10).
Medical Officer / Nursing Staff 4 [#8] 1 MD + 2–3 nurses/med techs for biannual exams, triage and reserve life-support duties.
Research Scientist 3 [#9] Senior scientists leading SCP-378 neurointegration and safe interaction research (part of 2–5 FTEs modeled here).
Research Technician / Lab Tech 1 [#9] Lab support staff for experimental throughput and assay processing.
Embedded Agent / Liaison 3 [#10] Weekly field-monitoring and cover liaison positions near the three components.
📋 Confidence Notes
Detailed line-item ranges were provided for most categories enabling mid-range point estimates; remaining uncertainty is driven by the unknown number of reserves actually maintained, the upper limit of active hosts, and potential need for BSL-4/thaumaturgic conversions which produce wide cost variance.
← SCP-377 ↑ All SCPs SCP-379 →